Born in
Mer Rouge in
Morehouse Parish in northeastern
Louisiana, Logan grew up in nearby
Monroe. He began his broadcasting career in 1932 when he was sixteen, having won a contest to become a disc jockey at
KWKH in Shreveport. He served in the
United States Army from 1942 to 1945 during
World War II and upon his return to Louisiana opened a gun repair shop. In 1947, Logan became program director for KWKH. In 1948, he started booking talent for a new weekly music show called the
Louisiana Hayride before a live studio audience at the
Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium and broadcast nationally over the CBS Radio network. Logan organized the program with performer rotation, audience participation, and multiple announcers to maintain a tight pace. The Louisiana Hayride became known as the "Cradle of the Stars" launching the careers of
Hank Williams,
Slim Whitman,
Johnny Cash, and
Elvis Presley. Presley performed on the radio version of the program in 1954 and made his first appearance on television on March 3, 1955, in a condensed version of the Louisiana Hayride. Logan first used the phrase "
Elvis has left the building" in December 1956 to convince overexcited fans to calm down after Presley performed. After Logan left "The Hayride," he worked in
California and
Florida and spent a decade in the
Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, where he was the producer of
Big D Jamboree, which featured among others
Willie Nelson. ==References==